The Bursa Triggerfish, once it is comfortable in your aquarium, displays an active interest in it's evironment and it's keeper. But be sure you keep it well fed. Also make sure it has plenty of space, and a cave or rock formation where it can retreat to. The Bursa Triggerfish have been known to be possible troublemakers. Ways to keep a peaceful tank is to house appropriate fish together that have similar needs and can hold their own. In this case larger protein eaters such as surgeonfishes, groupers, and basses. Some eels and puffers can be appropriate too.

As you watch this elegantly marked Blackpatch or Bursa Triggerfish swim back and forth, it becomes obvious as to why they need a large tank! They are very active and they are easy to keep, however, a tank that is 125 gallons is necessary for this eventually 1 foot long pet fish. These fish are interesting to say the least! They will make grunting sounds and love to rearrange rocks and landscaping in the tank, but need other aggressive tank mates. Provide hard shelled shrimp to wear their teeth down, which continue to grow throughout their lives.

The Blue Triggerfish, also called the Niger Triggerfish can grow to just under 20," requiring a 180 gallon tank. They are very active and for the most part they are reef safe with the exception of a few snails here and there that hid in their shell anyhow. Avoid small decorative shrimp. Corals are not bothered and these triggerfish are not aggressive. Their upturned mouth shows they are a planktivore and are happy eating any meaty foods you offer them. Shy at first, they will hide in their rock hideout that you would have built for them, but they will become more brave as they get older. If keeping with a cleaner shrimp, add the shrimp first.

This video of a Blue Triggerfish shows their nature when it comes to the quirky habit they have of moving small rocks around. Glue any small frags or small corals to larger rocks. The Blue Trigger or Niger Trigger is sometimes referred to as the Black Trigger, which is not even in the same genus. The TRUE Black Trigger has thin white lines above and below the back edges of their body at the base of the anal and back dorsal fin and is not reef safe. The Blue or Niger Trigger is reef safe with the exception of small ornamental shrimp. This tank is probably a quarantine tank, since these fish need 180 gallons to house their adult size of just under 20."

The Clown Triggerfish is one of the most beautiful fish in the marine world with it's bizarre patterns and colors! Very small juveniles have a low survival rate, so choosing larger juveniles up to adults is preferable. They may be a model citizen in a tank, then one day that "switch" flips and they literally obliterate all of their tank mates! House with other very large and belligerent fish in a large tank that is at least 300 gallons, with lots of hiding places. Clown Triggerfish have been known to bite the hand that feeds it if it is in a bad mood! The more you feed, the faster they grow to their almost 20" adult size.

Clown Triggerfish are as beautiful as they are angry! That being said, they are great as a pet, but like a real pet, they can chew through cords and can do damage to a hand! These fish grow quite large and they are very hardy and easy to keep despite their Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personalities. Avoid tiny babies as they are less likely to survive. These fish are not reef safe.... at all.

One of the slightly smaller triggers, the Picasso Triggerfish only grows to 9.8," unlike other genus that can grow to 1.5 to 2 feet so they only need a tank that is 180 gallons, unlike the 300 gallons that a Clown Trigger needs. That being said they will attack many inverts except large stinging cnidarians like the carpet anemones. One of the other large anemones can be seen at 0:32 of this video. The clownfish knows he is safe from this aggressive trigger. As juveniles, they are quite mellow and will eat from their owner's hand and act more like a dog than a fish! It is when the get older that they become very angry and should only be housed with fish of the same size or larger. They can be housed with others in the same genus if added at the same time into a larger tank. Provide open areas to swim and secure air-line tubing and electric cords because, like dogs... .they like to chew..... oh and they like to rearrange aquarium decor! Provide them with lightweight objects that they can move around for maximum entertainment.

The background sound of this video sounds like this fish is in a public aquarium. It is possible it got too big and aggressive for it's owner and ended up here. As you can see, it has a large Honeycomb (Tessellatedq) Moray Eel (adult coloring in the jar next to it) which is an appropriate tank mate (near the end of the video. The Queen Triggerfish is a beautifully marked trigger, who may be calmer at night, yet becomes more belligerent as it ages. They grow to 2 feet long, requiring a 300 gallon tank that is fish only. Add them last to your aggressive community tank and feel various marine flesh including shelled shrimp and crustaceans to wear down their teeth. They will also spit water out of the tank to get your attention, so be sure any electrical plugs are protected.

Reaching almost 2 feet, the Starry Triggerfish will do best in a tank that is 300 gallons or more. House with other fish of the same pugnacious disposition and of similar size. There can be other triggers in the tank, however they should be added at the same time and each have an area to hide in at night. They are another one of those "aqua dogs," acting more like a canine than a fish! They will eat out of your hand and love to interact with people!

The clown triggerfish lives alone in their natural habitat. They are very intolerant of similar species. This is why you usually see very few Triggerfish kept together in the same aquarium.

Members of this family have acquired their common name 'triggerfish' from the characteristic locking and unlocking of their first dorsal fin. Normally the dorsal fin is positioned in a flat groove on the top of the body. It can however, be locked in the upright position in order to wedge the fish into some crevice in which it has taken refuge. This keeps the triggerfish from being removed from the crevice and eaten.

Description: Triggerfish are relatively poor swimmers, most of the time they move with undulating wave motions of the dorsal and anal fins, only using the tail fin for emergencies! Triggerfish have teeth that are very stong and often stick out, which is ideal for eating shelled invertebrates and sea urchins. Don't put a Triggerfish in an aquarium with invertebrates! When eating a Crown of Thorns starfish, the trigger will first blow it over onto it's back in order to get at the soft unprotected underbelly.

Care and feeding: In captivity these fish will eat almost everything that is offered and should be fed everything like live foods (brine shrimp), frozen foods, flakes, squid, shrimp (regular or river), and even chopped earthworms.